Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Stealth Celebrity Candidate?

For a short time, Republicans where drooling over the idea of having a candidate with TV Star charisma in Fred Thompson. But now that the Thompson buzz seems to be fading, it looks like Mitt Romney is the only one left to fill the charisma void created by the somber and marble-mouthed John McCain, and the brutish, lisping Rudy Giuliani!

And Romney seems to be taking control as the only one with real positive momentum. He’s gotten good marks for his debate performances, mostly for his “charm” and “presidential” bearing (although his statements, like “doubling Gitmo,” have been as ridiculous as any from the current crop of candidates!) And now, there are these results from the Iowa straw poll:

The poll also asked how electable respondents believed each candidate to be in the general election. Romney again rose significantly to 79.4 percent, up almost 17 percent since March. Giuliani dropped from 82.4 percent to 73.9 percent, while McCain plummeted from 61.5 percent to 31.5 percent. Fred Thompson came in at 57.7 percent.

The GOP is taking a liking to Mitt Romney. Perhaps they see something that satisfies their desire for TV Star charisma!

There’s no question Romney looks the part. He’s tall, handsome, has a nice smile and a great head of hair. He’s confident – no, certain – that he’s the best man for the job! And he’s got all those good looking sons out wooing the country to support his campaign (for much more on this, see T-Bogg.) He also seems to have a pretty good team of strategists developing tricks he can use to cleanse himself from past positions that differ from his current ones.

In short, he should be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination, which is fine by me -because every time he opens his mouth, there’s a good chance his foot will end up inside it!

His latest, when asked why none of his sons are enlisting to fight the war he likes so much:

One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president.

So far, the weakness most touted as the way for the Democrats to beat an opponent like Mitt Romney is to brand him a flip-flopper for his shifting positions on the issues. I’m not so sure!

I think the best strategy for beating Romney is to ask the American people if they are prepared to go from a George W. Bush Presidency to that of a good looking but loutish, self-absorbed, airhead with TV Star charisma?

Are the American people ready for President Sam Malone?

Note: I started pushing this comparison some time ago and I might have let it go, but Mitt just keeps reminding me!